Cardweaving

Cardweaving is a very old form of weaving were you don't work on a loom but make patterns in your work by turning little cards. The treats run through holes in the corners of these cards. By turning the cards, you can change which colour threat is on the top and visible in the pattern.

The technique was first used about 5000 years ago in ancient China and reached Europe through the silkroute.
In Egypte severel old pieces of cardweaving have been found dating from the Coptic period and at an excavation of Gayet at Antinoe, cards were found as old as the 4th and 5th century A.D. The oldest examples of cardweaving from Egypt are from the 22th dynasty (945-745 B.C.).
The oldest pieces found in Scandinavia are as early as the 2th cantury A.D.
The prettiest are those found and the Oseberg-ship, dated 850 A.D. Among other things a cardweaving loom was found that still had 52 threaded cards and a number of bands. But also in Birka (Sweden) some beautifull and technically complicated have been recovered. (about 800-975 A.D.).
Other examples have been found in Hochdorf, Germany and Apremont, France.

(From 'cardweaving' by Candace Crockett)

Two days of cardweaving

On 24 and 25 august 2008 Ronald and Blue did a workshop cardweaving by Marijke van Epen at the Buitencentrum Wilhelminaoord. We thought that we knew cardweaving but we soon found out we hade barely covered the basics, there was so much more to learn...

In the past we fastened one end of our weaving to out belt and the other end to a tableleg or a door. During this workshop we worked with a 'weavingplank' which was new for us. A simple wooden plank and some brackets and clasps is al you need.

If you want to know more about Marijke and the workshops she gives, click on the picture above, it will take you to her (Dutch) website.

Cardweaving

We had done some cardweaving before and had soon found out that warping the chain of threats is the hardest part and it takes a lot of time...
It has led to lots of cursing and swearing in the past. Sometimes the chain got so knotted we just gave up.

Thread

Marijke tought us a different way to thread the cards thats much easier and faster. If you want to make a pattern that needs several cards thread with the same colourcombination, these cards are threaded as a 'block'.

A block of cards

If the pattern askes for all cards to have a different combination of colours, this will not help you but during the workshop we made patterns that allowed us to work with these blocks.

Colourcombination

The pattern that Ronald wanted to make asked for cards that had two yellow threads and two green threads running through each card. The balls of wool are in two boxes under the table making it easy to unroll the wool.

Handy

Here you can clearly see that one yellow thread is still missing. When all the treads are in place you tie the beginning of the treads to a fixed point, here we used clamps.

Warping the chain

You hold the block of cards in your left hand and lead the threads with your right hand. You do this not on the end of the treads close to the balls of wool but on the end that has been fixed (see picture).

When yoy reach the other side of the weavingplank you leave one two cards at this end, one on each side of the clamp.

Side by side

This way you end up with all the card side by side on the same end of the chain. If you use this method for all the cards you need, start with the ones in the middle of the pattern and work towards the outside, the cards that make the border going on last.

Fixing

If all the cards have been laced, you tie the threads on the cards side of the chain. This does not seem like an important thing, but trust us: it is!

If you need to loosen your chain at some point and forgot to do this, you'll find out why it is so important. Blue forgot to do it the first time and ended up with a uge knot.

Binding the cards

Also tie the cards themselfs. It dsoes not matter if they're not placed as the pattern needs, you can fix that later. This fixing of the cards is also very important if you dont want the treads to tangle up. you'll regret not doing it later on.

Here you can see a small part of a band Blue made during the workshop, she tied the cards because she wanted to take a break from work.

Cut and knot

The other end of the chain is then detached and the loops on that end cut. Now the side of the chain with the cards is fixed but the other side is not. Now that you got rid of the nloops, you divide the threads in two group and tie this end of the chain to the other end of the weavingplank the way the picture shows.

Tension

When the tension on the threads is about the same, you check if all the cards are in the right position for the patern you wish to make. They rarely are...so fix that.

Weft

Now the actual weaving can begin. The weft is pulled throught the chain. The treads on the top of the cards, furthest away from you will show in the band.

Turn

After having pulled trough the weft, we turn the cards. With this pattern we could turn the cards as a single block, this is not always the case.

How to hold them

In this case the cards are turned away from you. Look carefully how Roanld holds the block of cards in the picture. In out experience this is the best way to holg the block, but you don't have to agree.

Shift

By shifting the cards back and forth a few timers you let the treads fall back into place. don't overdo this for to much rubbing against the treads can lead to wearing and breacking of the threads.

Stike

Dont forget to use your weavingsword to strike your work, this is important if you want to work to be tidy. Marijke used wooden pancakeknives instead. They worked really well but you can also sand down one ide of a paint strip for an cheap but effective tool.

Pattern

This is the pattern Ronald made during the workshop.

It is created by flipping the cards. The effect is very beautifull and was often used during our beloved early midiaeval period.

Flip

The next few pictures show how you flip your cards. You don't flip them up side down, but in ther other direction. The side that was furthest away from your body, becomes the closest.

Flip

Flipping the cards becomes more difficult as the tention in the threads builts. The tric is to try and keep enough room to maneuver your card around.

Flip

As you flip the cards a single tread can sometimes get caught on one of the cards. Before you proceed weaving it is best to check but if you don't you'll soon find out if any threads got caught...

Flip

The number of cards you flip and when you flip them determine the patern.
The patern that Ronald made requiers demands flipping 2 cards, waeving 2 rows, then flip the next 2 cards.

Mold

This pattern was made in a simeler way but the waever also changed the direction in which she turned the cards.
This gives further pattern varieties. In the picture you can see how a simple paper mold is used to check the width of the band.

Patterns

To give you an idea of the many different patterns one can make in this technique, we placed a few examples on what we call the 'patternpage'.

A click on the picture below will take you to this page.

Links

Marijke van Epen Here personal site.

The loomy bin a fun site where you can design your own cardweavingpatterns.

Muninn with many examples of archaeological cardweaving finds (Dutch).

The textiles in the Oseberg ship

Peter Colligwood

Guntram's tabletweaving page

Stringpage with explanations of the technique and more...

Books

Cardweaving, Candace Crockett.

Tablet weaving and Ply-split braiding, Peter Collingwood.